Honestly, if you've spent any time in the dark corners of survival horror manga, you know Haro Aso is a bit of a genius. But when people talk about an Alice in Borderland anime, there is always this weird moment of confusion. You've probably seen the Netflix show. It was a massive hit. You might have seen the manga sitting on a shelf at Barnes & Noble. But the anime? That's where things get kinda complicated and, frankly, a little disappointing for hardcore fans who wanted a full adaptation.
It exists. It’s real. But it’s not what most people think it is.
The Alice in Borderland anime is actually a three-episode Original Video Animation (OVA) produced by Silver Link and Connect. It dropped back in 2014 and 2015, long before Arisu and Usagi became household names thanks to streaming. It doesn't cover the whole story. Not even close. It basically acts as a teaser for the manga, covering the very first few games and then just... stopping. It’s a relic of a time when anime was often used strictly as an expensive commercial for the source material.
The Problem With the Alice in Borderland Anime Adaptation
Most people stumble upon the OVA after finishing the live-action series and wanting more. They expect a high-octane, long-running series like Death Note or Kaiji. Instead, they get three episodes that feel like a fever dream. The animation is decent for 2014, but it lacks the oppressive, grime-covered atmosphere that made the manga so unsettling.
Why did they stop at three episodes? Money, mostly.
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Back then, the production committee system was ruthless. If an OVA didn't immediately spike manga sales to a specific threshold, the plug got pulled. It’s a shame because the voice acting was actually pretty spot on. Yoshitsugu Matsuoka—the guy who voices Kirito in Sword Art Online and Inosuke in Demon Slayer—played Arisu. He brought a certain frantic, pathetic energy to the character that fits the "shut-in gamer" vibe perfectly.
How the Games Compare (Anime vs. Live Action)
If you’ve seen the Netflix version, the first game involves the "Dead or Alive" room puzzle. In the Alice in Borderland anime, they actually stick closer to the manga's original vision for the opening gambit.
The first game in the anime is the Three of Clubs, "Good Luck Every One."
It’s less about sliding doors and more about a giant, terrifying fire festival. The characters are trapped in a shrine and have to answer questions. If they get them wrong? Arrows of fire rain down. It feels more "mythological" and less "high-tech" than the Netflix show. This is a recurring theme. The manga and the Alice in Borderland anime lean into the psychological horror and the bizarre, whereas the live-action show opted for a sleek, Saw-esque aesthetic to appeal to a broader global audience.
Some fans argue the anime handles the emotional weight of Arisu’s friends better in those short episodes. You see his desperation more clearly. In the live action, everything moves so fast because they have to get to the "Cool Tokyo" shots. In the anime, you linger on the silence of the abandoned streets. It’s haunting.
Why You Should (Maybe) Still Watch It
Is it the definitive way to experience the story? No. Absolutely not.
But for a fan of the franchise, the Alice in Borderland anime offers a "what if" scenario. It shows what the series could have looked like if it followed the traditional Shonen Jump-style path.
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- The Character Designs: They are much closer to Haro Aso’s original sketches. Arisu looks a bit more unkempt. Karube looks like a genuine delinquent rather than a stylized TV actor.
- The Pacing: It’s fast. Like, really fast. You can finish the whole thing in under 90 minutes.
- The Gore: It doesn't hold back. While Netflix has a big budget for blood squibs, the anime can do things with body horror that are just easier to draw than to build with CGI.
The Reality of the "Missing" Season 2
There is no Season 2 of the anime. There likely never will be.
With the massive success of the live-action series—which has now been renewed for a third season to cover the "King of Hearts" and other supplementary material—the incentive to go back and animate a decade-old OVA is zero. Production IG or Mappa aren't going to touch it when the live-action version is already printing money for Netflix.
This creates a weird gap in the fandom. You have the "Manga Purists" who swear by the original panels, the "Netflix Casuals" who love the high stakes, and then the tiny group of people who actually remember the Alice in Borderland anime existed in the first place.
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A Quick Reality Check on the Timeline
- 2010: The manga begins serialization in Shonen Sunday S.
- 2014: The first OVA episode of the Alice in Borderland anime is released with Volume 12 of the manga.
- 2015: The third and final OVA episode drops.
- 2020: Netflix releases the live-action adaptation, and the world goes crazy.
- 2026: We are currently looking toward the next live-action expansion while the anime remains a cult footnote.
Finding the Vibe of Alice in Borderland Elsewhere
If you're bummed out that the Alice in Borderland anime is so short, you aren't out of luck. The "Death Game" genre is huge in the anime world. You just have to know where to look to find that specific blend of math, logic, and existential dread.
Darwin’s Game is a solid choice if you liked the "special abilities" aspect of some of the later Borderland games. If you want the psychological torment, Gantz is the grandfather of this entire genre, though it's much darker and more cynical than Alice ever gets. For the pure "outsmarting the dealer" vibe, No Game No Life is the bright, colorful cousin to the Borderland's grey and bloody world.
Actionable Steps for the True Fan
If you really want to digest this story properly, stop looking for more anime episodes. They aren't coming. Instead, do this:
- Read the Manga (Alice in Borderland): It is finished. It is 18 volumes of pure, unadulterated tension. The ending is actually quite different in tone and explanation than what most people expect. It tackles the "philosophy of life" much more directly than any screen version.
- Check out the Spin-offs: Haro Aso wrote Alice in Borderland: Retry. It’s a short sequel that brings Arisu back into the games as an adult. It’s fantastic and provides a much-needed epilogue.
- Watch the OVAs for the Voice Acting: Find the three episodes of the Alice in Borderland anime just to hear the original Japanese cast. It changes how you "hear" the characters when you read the manga later.
- Explore "Alice on Border Road": This is a side story set in the same universe but with different characters and a slightly different premise. It’s more of a road trip survival story, but the "Borderland" DNA is definitely there.
The Alice in Borderland anime might be a fragment of a larger masterpiece, but it’s a fascinating look at what happens when a great story gets caught in the gears of the mid-2010s anime industry. It's a short, sharp shock of adrenaline that serves as a perfect gateway to the much deeper, much more terrifying world of the original manga.